


when Rome's in ruin (we are the lions free of the Colosseums)

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: their smiles shaped wrong [5]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers Wild Force
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, BAMF Women, BUT NO SABAN WOULDN'T LET ME HAVE TWO FEMALE LEADS IN A ROW, Careers (Hunger Games), Dana is a Victor, District 2, District 6, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Lesbians, OR AT LEAST THE LEADER OF WILD FORCE, TAYLOR EARHARDT SHOULD'VE BEEN RED, Wild Force are peacekeepers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-08-10 08:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20132416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: Taylor had been set to be the girl Volunteer her year, up until the week before the Sixty Fifth Games when Cole, the boy Volunteer, had shattered her ankle with a strike from his staff in a practice fight.(Probably a good thing, for him. Taylor would have been willing to do anything to bring Two the win, even if it had meant backstabbing her District partner. Cole, as evidenced by his actions in the following Games, hadn’t had that same ruthless drive.)Alyssia Enrile, second in their class, had stepped up to be the Volunteer and three weeks later, both Cole and Alyssa were dead in the Games, leading to that smug bastard from Four taking home the crown instead of Two. Alyssa and Cole’s bodies had been shipped back to two in impersonal stone coffins, and Taylor had spent the next few weeks in physical therapy before entering the Peacekeeper Academy, where she’d trained to assume the duty that most high-ranking non-Volunteers take after exiting the Academy.(Taylor Earhardt, Peacekeeper in District Six.)





	when Rome's in ruin (we are the lions free of the Colosseums)

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Young Volcanoes" by Fall Out Boy.
> 
> Me, knowing nothing about Wild Force and Lightspeed Rescue other than the fact that Taylor Earhardt and Dana Mitchell deserved to be the Red Rangers of their teams and that Taylor Earhardt is up there with Jen and Katie in terms of sheer bi energy: writes this

_ My arrogance knows no bounds and I will make no peace today _

_ And you shall be so lucky to find a woman like me _

-Mohja Kahf

Taylor had been set to be the girl Volunteer her year, up until the week before the Sixty Fifth Games when Cole, the boy Volunteer, had shattered her ankle with a strike from his staff in a practice fight.

(Probably a good thing, for him. Taylor would have been willing to do anything to bring Two the win, even if it had meant backstabbing her District partner. Cole, as evidenced by his actions in the following Games, hadn’t had that same ruthless drive.)

Alyssia Enrile, second in their class, had stepped up to be the Volunteer and three weeks later, both Cole and Alyssa were dead in the Games, leading to that smug bastard from Four taking home the crown instead of Two. Alyssa and Cole’s bodies had been shipped back to two in impersonal stone coffins, and Taylor had spent the next few weeks in physical therapy before entering the Peacekeeper Academy, where she’d trained to assume the duty that most high-ranking non-Volunteers take after exiting the Academy.

It had been hard to adjust, at first. Since she was ten-years-old, Taylor had been prepared to be District Two’s female tribute in the Sixty Fifth Games. She’d been the best in every class, won every fight, pulled bruises and broke bones and sprained joints for years. She’d put her absolute effort into everything, into learning everything she could and turning her body into the best weapon and survival machine that her District could acquire. She’d made herself into the paragon of physical and mental excellence, all in the interest of that goal of serving her District well.

And then Cole had taken her out, and she’d had to resign herself to a life that continued past the Games, where her life wouldn’t end one way or another once she entered the Arena. Now, she isn’t a possible Victor or a possible Arena death, but instead just a Peacekeeper expected to perform her duties for the next twenty years before eventually retiring and starting a family.

She isn’t used to these expectations. They have never been hers to inhabit or plan for, and Taylor is as loyal to her her District as they come, but she can’t help but feel a bit resentful, a bit out of place. This wasn’t supposed to be her fate. This wasn’t supposed to be her resting place. She was supposed to bring honor to her District. Even if she’d fallen in the Arena, she still would have done her duty and done it well.

It takes until the next Games- when Lauren Shiba, from the class right behind Taylor, takes the Victory- that Taylor starts to let go of her resentment. If she had won, this girl wouldn’t have been coming home. There have never been back-to-back wins in the history of the Games, and if the Gamemakers ever did allow back-to-back wins from one District, said District’s tributes would have to have an amazing story to back it up.

So Taylor starts to feel a little less resentful of everything that’s happened, starts to finally allow herself to adjust to the life she currently occupies and appreciate what she has that she never allowed herself to expect before.

For example, there’s her Peacekeeping partner, Max. He’s a bit goofy at times, definitely not one to hold to the same strict discipline that she does, but he always has a smile and an encouraging word for everyone around him. He’s nothing like Taylor, who is too often stern and disciplined, but they balance each other out well and she has to admit that she _ has _ grown a little fond of him during their time in training and their eventual move to District Six. He's a very unexpected but eventually appreciated change from her expected role as a Volunteer. He helps her adjust to life as a Peacekeeper rather than a prospective tribute, and by the time that they finalize their move to Six on the eve of the Fifty Seventh Games she is actually starting to see him as a friend. 

-

The Seventies have been a very bad decade for Careers, that’s for sure, Taylor notes as she watches the Seventy Third Games from her apartment in Six. Since Jayden Shiba’s win in the Sixty Seventh Games, no Career has taken home the crown. The outliers keep pulling win after win, some from brutality, some from sponsorships, some from accidents. Any way that it happens, though, it’s prevented Two from taking home any wins.

And Taylor knows that the Capitol can’t be very happy with what’s happening. After all, one outlier win is “inspiring.” Two is “refreshing.” Five is ugly and too likely to give rise to more...insidious thoughts amongst the citizens of the outlying Districts. The Capitol can’t let those kids keep winning. It just wouldn’t be right not reward the Districts that put an effort in, who make sure to send out only the most prepared rather than risking the innocent twelve-year-olds being Reaped-

Which is why Taylor’s not shocked when Kevin Brant, a sturdy Two boy- Lauren Shiba’s first tribute, if she’s not wrong- takes home the Crown this year. He wins by using a bow and arrows- certainly not a typical Career weapon, that’s for sure, but if it gets him out, then why not- and a bit of balance gets restored to the Career-outlier win ratio.

Instead of expressing shock, she just lets out a long breath and closes her eyes. Now that the Games are over, the tension in the District will recede a bit, making her job easier.

“Long night, Eardhardt?” Max asks, sitting down next to her on the kitchen bench she’s been watching the last of the mandatory viewings from. As assigned Peacekeeping partners, the two of them share the apartment in one of Six’s many city burrows. Their apartment is in the burrow closest to the Victor’s Village, as they’re assigned to that section of the city to police.

“Two finally pulled out another win,” Taylor says, flicking a small nod toward the screen. Max, who’s been busy with paperwork, hasn’t been paying attention. “Mandatory viewing” only means that the screen has to be on, not that people actually have to be paying attention.

“Oh, that’s pretty awesome,” Max says with a grin. “Danny’ll be thrilled to hear.”

Though Max is Taylor’s Peacekeeping partner, Danny is Max’s unofficial life partner. Peacekeepers can get away with shit like that that the other Districts can’t, taking same-sex partners and the like. That’s one reason why Max and Danny joined the Peacekeepers, after all, despite their, well, lack of enthusiasm for violence.

“Hope Dana takes it okay,” Max continues, and Taylor swallows.

Dana Mitchell is a Victor from Six- where Taylor, Max, and Danny are currently stationed. She won about a decade ago, using her medical knowledge from her role as the town healer to poison several tributes. Her father had won the Games about two decades before her, and she had been the first Victor in Six since his Games.

Dana, since the Games, has done nothing but be an unofficial healer for the District and live in the Village. She’s made herself a quiet life of peace and help, and except for her role as a Mentor in the Games, she's been a very low-key Victor.

(Well, save for her recent dates with Taylor, Taylor has to assume. Not many Victors date Peacekeepers, after all.)

Dana, even though she has a Victor for a father, was not raised with the same philosophy on the Games that Dana, Danny, Max, and other Two kids were. She was not raised with any sort of hope on Six’s tributes having a chance at the Games. The Games are not a chance at proving District honor for Six- they’re a death knell.

It’s been a little over a decade since she took the crown home to Six, and it was two decades between her win and her father’s, without a single win for Six in between. Six is a rather clear outlier with nearly no chance at taking home the crown. They aren’t even like Seven, with its kids put into the lumber industry with a chance to learn how to swing an ax at a young age, or Ten, where they learn how to kill animals, or even Three, where they might be able to pick up some tech skills that smartest kids can use to shock the Sponsors with. No, Six has done jack-squat for its tributes in terms of preparing them for the Arena. They’re up there with Twelve and Five in terms of not having any prep jobs for its kids.

When Dana gets back from the Capitol, she and her father will be bringing back two coffins alongside them on the train, and those coffins will just be two more in a long line of dead children they’ve brought home. Two winning this year changes nothing for Dana, but though Taylor knows Dana’s used to it, she knows that it doesn’t make it any easier to talk to the grieving families. Taylor’s going to have to comfort Dana after everything that happened, and she hates that she’ll have to see Dana going through such a painful process.

Fuck, this is why they warn you not to get involved with the locals. In Two, the funerals for dead tributes aren’t the tragedies that they are in Six. They’re somber but calm proceedings, an understanding of how the kids brought honor to the District even in death by volunteering so that some twelve or thirteen-year-old wouldn’t have to suffer. Here in Six, they’re tragic affairs of lives cut short by the cruelty of the Games-

(Yet another reason that the Capitol discourages inter-District relationships. They don’t want Peacekeepers to seriously consider the perspectives of the people they’re supposed to control.)

Dana’s never gone back to the graveyard that she probably would have ended up in, if she’d ended up in the Games. They didn’t deem her good to walk until she had already entered the Peacekeeper training, and then she’d been assigned to Six shortly after that and, well.

“I do too,” she replies to Max.

-

Dana gets back from the Capitol a week later. She doesn’t tend to hang around the Capitol after the Games, leaving her father to cover the usual talk with what few Sponsors will interact with Six. 

Her arrival in Six is uneventful, with her just helping escort the coffins back to their families, delivering personal effects and tokens to the families of the dead tributes. There is little fanfare for a Mentor Who fails at their job, who doesn't bring back a Victor with them. There's not a single camera recording Dana's return to the District.

When Taylor arrives at Dana's house in the Village, she finds Dana with her hair down, staring out of one of her windows. She's not crying or breaking or anything like that- no, instead, she's just sitting on her sofa, legs crossed, breathing in and out. Meditating, almost, like they taught the kids in the Centre to do during practice to center themselves if they ever panicked in the Arena.

Taylor sits down on the sofa next to her, trying to be as quiet as possible. She doesn’t want to disturb Dana, if at all possible- she just wants to be there for Dana, if she needs it. Taylor's not that good with comforting people, and she's well aware of that fact, but she wants to help as much as she can anyway.

When Dana finally speaks, her voice is a bit hoarse. "I knew that they were going to die," she says, "They always do. But it doesn't make in any better to watch them get cut down in the bloodbath every year."

Over the past six years, Dana has been stuck wondering whether or not Two or Six's mentality is easier to have. Is it better to have hope, like Two, to have an actual possibility at winning and still have to watch your tributes die, or is it better to just accept the inevitable, like Six, and know that you'll have to watch two kids die every year in blood and gore?

Taylor doesn't say _I'm sorry_, or _It will get better_, because both would be a lie. It's not her fault that those kids died, and it won't get better. Six never has a chance. Its five winners have mostly been flukes, and its three Victors other than Captain Mitchell or Dana have all become addicted to Morphling, drugged out of their minds in order to keep from dealing with the nightmares. To be honest, Taylor's almost a bit shocked that Dana's still as human as she seems nowadays, with both the Games and her tragic family hanging over her head. After all, Dana's little brother disappeared when they were young. No one knows if he died or was taken to an orphanage or somehow even conscripted into the Centre in Two from a community home, like a lot of kids are. (Danny was originally from Eleven, or so his accent says, while Max is from District Two, just like Taylor.)

"No, it doesn't," Taylor agrees, because it really doesn't. Instead, she just moves her shoulder so that Dana can easily lean against it, taking comfort from her in a way that Taylor's not entirely sure how to give but that she tries her best to share, because Dana deserves every relief that Taylor can help her have.

Dana sighs into Taylor's shoulder. "I'm glad you're here," she says quietly, and Taylor can't help but smile into Dana's hair.

"I'm glad I am, too," she says, because she is. Being a Volunteer should have been her fate, but it didn't end up being her life. Maybe in another life she would have made a good Victor, but she might have died as well. There's way to know anything save the fact that right here, right now- she's happy with Dana and Max and Danny. She's helping comfort Dana, and no, that's not something she learned in the Centre, but it _is_ a skill she's proud she's learned from the people around her. It has ended up being just as useful as her weapons skills or her ability to follow orders.

(Yeah, there is most _definitely _a reason that they discourage Peacekeepers from forming attachments with the people they interact with, the citizens of the Districts. The empathy you learn from that can become a very dangerous weapon, overriding former skills bred and beaten into you.)

**Author's Note:**

> New Victors introduced in this chapter:  
62nd Games: Dana Mitchell, District 6  
65th Games: Hunter Bradley, District 4  
73rd Games: Kevin, District 2
> 
> Tributes who died in the Games:  
65th Games: Cole Evans, District 2  
65th Games: Alyssa Enrile, District 2


End file.
